How to Become a Pilot in USA

1. Get a medical certificate from an Federal Aviation Administration medical examiner.
2. Look around your local area for a good flight school and begin working on your private pilot certificate. The FAA minimum flight time is 40 hours, but the average is around 75.
3. Consider going to school to finish your degree if you haven't already. Virtually every flying job requires an associate degree and almost every airline requires a bachelors. However, your degree doesn't have to be aviation related. Any college degree will do.
4. Begin working on your instrument rating and commercial certificate. An instrument rating requires 50 hours of cross country Pilot-in-Command (PIC) and 40 hours of actual or simulated instrument conditions. For the commercial certificate, you will need 250 hours total time, 100 hours PIC, 50 hours cross country, and 10 hours of dual instruction in a complex aircraft.
5. Complete your certified flight instructor (CFI) rating and begin working at your flight school. Some flight schools offer you flight hours in exchange for instructing for them. This can be useful when you go on to your multi-engine rating.
6. Work on your multi-engine, certified flight instructor instrument (CFII), and multi-engine instructor (MEI) ratings.
7. Work on your airline transport pilot (ATP) rating and build up your flight hours.
   • A few regional airlines such as Great Lakes do not require an ATP rating and require as few as 750 hours total and 50 hours of multi-engine time.
   • To work for a major airline, you will need to complete your ATP and a type rating for the aircraft you want to fly. Major airlines typically require at least 3,000 hours total flight time including at least 1,500 hours multi-engine, and around 800 hours as pilot in command (PIC) or second in command (SIC). These number are estimates and will vary depending on the airline.
   • This isn't entirely true. With the proper ratings and as little as 1,500 flight time, you could get hired by any number of REGIONAL airlines flying turboprop and regional-jet aircraft. None of which require an ATP.
   
   
8. You will probably start as a first officer and work your way to captain.
9. Most airline promotions are based on seniority with the company rather than total flight time or experience.
10. Although flying is a fun job, don't expect to make a lot of money at first. After getting more seniority in a major or international airline, you could make up to $200,000 dollars or more.
11. A great place to start building time and experience is flying for a sub-regional cargo operator. Flying medical specimens and bank checks. Average starting pay is $19,000 while you build your time to pursue a passenger airline career if that's what you want. With many of these cargo operations, you'll fly every day and be home every night. Logging as much as 1,000 per year in the process, which makes you a much more attractive pilot candidate for the passenger carriers.
12. Be sure to do your research before jumping into your flight training. Make sure you are able to meet the medical requirements for an FAA first class medical rating then find and compare different training options, financing, education requirments, etc. Use a reliable source for this information and not marketing from flight schools.
13. Join the military. Military pilots tend to retire and become airline pilots. Some of the best airline pilots received military flight training and the bonus is the flight training is "free".
14. Don't expect to start flying right away. Most airlines will put you in the Holding Pool and you may need to wait 1 yr +.
15. Think about joining a Flying/Gliding Club near you to build up your hours.